The Coat is Thin: Poems

Leonard Neufeldt’s collection of highly descriptive poems, comprises lyrical meditations, narratives, dramatic monologues, and verse essays. The first section draws strongly on memory in presenting the luminous immediacy of experiences with others and with nature.

To quote the Yogi Berra of one of these poems, “Writers could observe a lot by watching.” Later sections turn to the Dutch-Russian Mennonites who influenced and shaped the poet; troubling issues of war, peace, and the exercise of power; and the possibilities in our time of living and writing with integrity.